What Happened When I Refused My Tetanus Vaccine

December 12, 2013

(THE REFUSER) – I wanted to share my story about what happened when I refused my tetanus vaccine after having cut myself with a knife at home. I want to share this story not as an example of what will or will not happen every time, but more so as an example of how it’s important we stay open minded and question things before we blindly accept them.

Joe Martino

I got into studying vaccines, their efficacy and safety a few years ago when I began to hear more and more about people being injured by vaccines. There is an unfortunate belief going around that vaccines are completely safe and scientific studies have proven this to be the case. I’m here to say, this is not true. Regardless of the fact that there are studies to show efficacy and safety, there are also a large number of studies showing the dangers and lack of efficacy when it comes to vaccines. Simply search the web, published journals, studies, books, documentaries and stories of doctors who have spoken out about this to get more information.

I do urge you however, to be careful with your sources on both sides of the argument. The existence of the argument itself shows that there is a clear case to be made when it comes to having to re-think vaccines. At this point, to continue to make uneducated decisions about vaccines has become an irresponsible choice given the amount of information now available. I’m not telling you what choice to make, but am instead recommending that you educate yourself of the dangers on both sides.

MY STORY

I was cutting a sweet potato one evening when I looked down and realized I had somehow sliced a decent portion of the tip of my pinky finger. I still don’t know how this happened, but it did. Immediately I knew I either needed stitches or glue to have it heal properly. I looked more closely at my finger and confirmed my initial thoughts. After applying some hydrogen peroxide, I hopped in the car with my girlfriend and we made our way to the hospital.

Upon arriving, we went through the normal procedure in the emergency room: papers, name, health card, etc. From there I went to the treatment room where I waited for a doctor for about 30 minutes. At that point a young doctor showed up to the bed that I was sitting on and introduced himself. He seemed friendly, nice, outgoing and willing to help. He looked at my wound, assessed the situation, heard my opinion of treatment and agreed. Glue it was. He then asked me if I had received a Tetanus shot in the past few years. Given that I was 26, I was overdue based on health standards to receive my next immunization. Since I hadn’t received the shot, by choice, he told me that we would do that today as a part of the procedure. I told him that I would think about it. Of course, this was a bit of a stall tactic on my part as I had no intention of getting the vaccine. Despite my response, he pressed on. “You should really get the vaccine, if you aren’t up to date this could be fatal.” I then decided to ask him what the ingredients of the vaccine were. Seemingly confused he came across as unsure how to answer. He ended up saying that it was crushed up bits of the bacteria -in a non-living state -and that it would protect against allowing any potential living bacteria to become toxic in my body. In theory he was correct. I then asked, “does the vaccine contain thimerosal?” He looked at me and responded, “I have no idea what that is.” I then let him know that it was a ethylmercury and has been shown to cause neurological damage. This is the point where things drastically changed.

He chuckled to himself almost as if to suggest that I was believing in some conspiracy theory, he went on to say “most of what you hear about vaccines is not true, there are only a couple vaccines that have had bad effects on people.” It’s important to note that up until this point and for the remainder of my visit I was as kind, peaceful and nice as anyone could be in speaking with another person. I said “I’m open to some of it being overstated, but I have also researched results myself so I come asking questions because of what I have found in my research.” He responded in a condescending and angry manner “well I don’t have an information kit with me here and I don’t think these vaccines are unsafe, but the choice is still yours.” We didn’t speak more about it for the next minute or so. He filled out some paperwork and then asked again if I was going to get the shot. I answered no and he went on to say “well I leave it up to you, you can let the nurse know but it’s basically you get this or you die in 3 days. Tetanus can be fatal and so it’s your choice.” He was also laughing and annoyed at this point because he could not believe I was questioning and challenging his authority. I kept with my decision of opting out of the vaccine and he simply walked away. There was no “bye”, no “have a nice night,” no chance for me to thank him, nothing. He simply turned around and walked away as if he was not happy with me at all.

When the nurse came over she asked me about the shot. When I refused she ran me through a quick explanation of how it was not the best choice and that I should get the vaccine in the next 3 days or else I could die. After I left the hospital I reflected on the entire experience and realized that it might be important to share this story as there are some interesting things to observe.

QUESTION & DO RESEARCH

I do not want to generalize, but this is not the first case I have heard, by any means, of doctors getting offended when their authority is challenged by patients. In my case, there was a clear attempt to make me fear my own death should I not follow his arrogantly delivered orders. It was very clear that me challenging him made him feel more equal to me which made him become very unpleasant and irresponsible as a doctor. One thing we all have to remember is that every person on this planet is a human being and each of us -regardless of our stature or reputability -are equal. We should never look to anyone as an authority on any matter but instead take what they have given as information from their experiences and use it to formulate our own feelings and information without blindly following it. I feel this is especially the case in the medical field as people journeying through medical training are subject to a great deal of bias that comes from teachings formulated on belief. New information regularly enters the medical arena, yet it is not updated and added to what is known presently unless there is some way to profit from the information being added to the equation. We can see this through many sectors of the medical field as pharmaceuticals is ultimately what controls the natural flow of new discoveries. If something cannot be produced and sold, it is likely that it will never see the light of day.

Where students get their medical education has a direct link to the benefits of the pharmaceutical industry, as they help fund and pay for much of what schools require to operate labs, equipment, etc. In exchange, those companies ask them to focus on pharmaceutical drugs amongst other particular areas of teaching, with things even going as far as many textbooks being linked to large pharmaceutical companies. A great example of this lies within the cancer industry, where a number of obvious potential cures lay available, yet students exit med school solely focused on that which is mainstream: chemo and radiation -both of which have low success rates and are sometimes incredibly lethal to the human body.

Through this article I do not intend to encourage people to never trust a doctor. I Instead encourage you to do your own research before making decisions that involve vaccines and other pharmaceuticals. A doctor will rarely ever tell you of the damages associated with vaccines, regardless of the $2.5 billion in injury awards that have been paid out to victims of vaccine injury. Doctors are simply doing their jobs the vast majority of the time so you can’t always blame them. But at the same time they should be encouraged to think for themselves as well.

In my research over the years I have come across an alarming number of facts, experiences and practices that make it evidently clear that the mainstream medical field is not focused on cures and health, it is instead geared towards profit and the need to create perpetual customers. I am not saying doctors have an agenda, more so that their education does and they don’t always recognize that until they begin to question it for themselves. Unfortunately this courage to start thinking differently usually leads to nothing more than them being smeared and called a ‘quack.’

Make smart and educated decisions, not decisions based around fear. This is very important whether you are choosing mainstream or alternative medicine.

Thimerosal has been linked the permanent brain damage even in small doses.

Tetanus has shown a fatality of about 10% in reported cases. Although this number is considered high, if you remember from my story, I was told I was going to die in 3 days had I not taken the vaccine. While I knew he was most likely using fear tactics, many people would have simply opted in at this point.

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on Thursday, December 12th, 2013 at 2:24 pm and is filed under Blogs, Vaccines.
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